The Porch Is Live - Mike Tomlin

Steve: Oh, that's too bad.
Chris: But we are live! Check my Instagram, boys. What is going on with your music?

Steve: I am monitoring Instagram. 12 people already on Instagram. 20. 24. 25. Let's get the 30. Maybe we gotta say something to the people on Instagram.

Marc: Hey, people of Instagram, welcome to your sports porch Pittsburgh edition. Where are the Steelers going? Certainly not up.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marc: Are you okay? It looks like it looks like you're prepared for the show.

Chris: Yeah Yeah, I don't know. I am. I am very prepared. Okay. Thanks guys I I listen if you're watching on instagram. Thank you so much for being here. This is our first show on instagram This is the sports porch the sports porch pittsburgh we are live right now all over the world on facebook linkedin youtube x and instagram on pittsburgh beautiful and we drop the podcast right after the show right after the show we drop the podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your freaking podcasts. And, um, where can I find it? Yes, it was. The porch is live.com. The porch is live.com.

Marc: The porch is live.com.

Chris: Synchronized as usual. Synchronized as usual. This is dangerous. We do have a line open 412-805-7236.

Marc: One line open. Yep. Okay.

Chris: So what, what are we going to do? Obviously it's black and gold, you know, it's the porch, it's the porch in Pittsburgh. We're going to talk about the Steelers. All I have to do, like I said, in the, in the headline of this thing, uh, is all I have to do is say Mike Tomlin and I can like start a bar fight right now.

Marc: Yeah, definitely. Well, let's go to our, let's go to our resident Yinzer, Steven DeFlitch. Steve, give us your state of the team.

Steve: Well, the state of the team is not only in disarray, but I might dare to say the worst it's been in decades.

Chris: Finally, you get there.

Steve: I did finally get there because, you know, when I said I was all in on this team like four weeks ago, that was the death of the season. I should have said I'm all out on this team because that was the zeal of their season. They were seven and three. Everything looked like it was going great. Yeah, I think that they ended up losing to Cleveland, which was a close game. They probably should have won that game, but didn't. It was the ugliest game, I think, of the season, which is saying something. DTR game. And then they go to lose the two to win game teams. And then they managed to get shellacked in Indianapolis. I don't think there's any recovering, honestly, from what just happened in the past four games. And as far as Tomlin goes, I mean, I get all the talk about firing Tomlin and that whole thing. And everybody knows how I am about the Steelers and their history. But remember, I said there's no way in hell they're ever going to fire their offensive coordinator. And they did. So, I mean, I think there is hope in the offseason that maybe something will happen with Tomlin. You know, I think actually the best thing that can happen in the off season, by the way, I don't think the Steelers are making the playoffs. I, I, I'm, I'm actually, I'm not rooting for them to lose the rest. I'm glad you, I'm glad you feel that way finally, Steve, but I'm not, I'm not rooting for them to lose the rest of their games. Cause I'll never root for a Steelers team to lose, but I think they have the 11th pick right now. And if they were to lose their, their last two games, well, really their last three games. I'd actually like them to beat Cincinnati just so they can bring Cincinnati to the, to the loser status, not making the playoffs with us. That would make me feel better about the season, but I don't, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I just don't feel good at all about this team. Their defense has, and I told you this after I watched them play live against new England, their defense is just awful and it got worse. And that's despite being almost completely healthy. I mean, they're never getting their linebackers back, but it's just garbage. It's the team is garbage right now. And you can't really talk about the postseason because they still technically have a shot at the playoffs. But I think I think I think it was something like a 37 percent chance of making the playoffs. I could be wrong about that.

Chris: Let me break in here.

Marc: Let me break that by five percent.

Chris: We have some comments coming in on Instagram that I can't, unfortunately, I can't put them up on the screen. JWID16. JWID16 says, Thank you.

Marc: Kenny needs to go.

Chris: There you go. So, um, i'm gonna tell you right now that this thing has gone from a uh smoky Um, you know brush bouldering fire. Yes to an all-out five alarm You know nuclear fallout blast and anything and everything. It's just it's just degenerated To the point where when you listen to the radio you hear the host and i haven't heard a host yet that hasn't been like why are we not firing this guy and then they're purposely bringing on the media. The national media to hear them you know sing tomlin's praises and then they want to argue with them. Well i think even the national media is backed off on that of course of course but my point is is that is there a bigger fire than that. When your media has completely turned against you a hundred percent and like they're not just in my this is my opinion when i listen they're not just. earning on you, they are burning your legacy down by picking it apart and really explaining like why the fact that you have had a winning record every year, your entire career is really not that big a deal. You know, they're, they're, they're really tearing it down. Um, and the, the organization is just, they're taking it on the chin right now from Steelers fans. You're rightfully so.

Steve: You can't you can't lose to to win teams and then you can't say that the game on Saturday is a playoff game and then go out and get out to a 13 nothing lead and then get 30 points in a row scored on you. That's something has to happen from that. I mean, that's just three in a row, each in their own unique way. Ridiculously bad, but nonetheless ridiculously bad.

Chris: Right, right. So and uh schwaber i'll i'll do yo, yo carries. Um, Comment standard. Yeah, that is yo carrie Yeah, that's okay. I don't want standard. I I want stellar you can call out the the instagram comments if you want schwaber He's he's trying to take over the show. He tried to take over the philly show You know, well, he, he, he should take over the Philly show.

Marc: So, uh, Sissy off Vermont street says winning record doesn't equate to playoff wins. They need to hear it and do better. Right.

Chris: Right.

Steve: That's absolutely true. And that's been the problem with this team for some time now, no playoffs, no playoffs wins, no AFC championship games. I mean, you at some point have to say, let's just suck for a while so we can get better.

Chris: And honestly, in the- Is he saying that? Is Steve really saying that?

Steve: Listen- He's on board now. I've been thinking about this. nowhere else but the NFL can you get better quicker? I mean, the San Francisco 49ers were dumpster fire for a while, right? And they got a new coach and that helped, but it didn't get them over the hump because Seattle was still pretty good at the time, right?

Chris: Right.

Steve: Then all it took was suddenly CMC's available from an owner who's an idiot who gave it to him, gave him CMC for a fourth round pick.

Chris: What in the hell was that guy thinking?

Steve: And he's from Pittsburgh, he's from Houston. And on top of that, they get rid of their quarterback and they trade him for some more picks, right? And then they draft a quarterback in the last round with the last pick that turns out to be Tom Brady, the second coming.

Chris: Yeah. Future Hall of Famer.

Steve: And that's it, man. And now they're on top for probably the next four years. The way the NFC West looks, the West is pretty much garbage right now. So that's what it takes. You just have to get bad for a little bit. And as long as the standard is winning but not making the playoffs, you're never going to get that. And I do have more faith in the people that are drafting now. Let's face it. Um, the guys who were drafting with Tomlin, uh, before, uh, con came in on board and, uh, the, the guy from the wide wide. All right. I think now they have a chance at actually drafting good players before I would have said, uh, they're just going to spend it on a new shiny toy who will be a head case by year one, by the end of year one. And in year two will be a full blown mental, uh, mental ward, uh, So, um, but I think the guys that they're drafting now, clearly the three guys they got this year. I mean, I think Broderick Jones, by the way, you know, I'm a big Broderick Jones fan. I think he's taken a step back. He's really not played well the last couple of games. And I, and I just like to see them put him on the left-hand side. So he doesn't have to relearn it next year and just get this experiment over with, with Dan Moore on the left-hand side and just, just ride it out the rest of the season. Yeah.

Chris: Let's bring it back to Tomlin though. That's why everybody's watching.

Steve: Tomlin is not going anywhere. I hate to say that, but he's not going anywhere. And if he does, the best thing that can happen is next year, they don't give him a contract extension. They say, you have to go get both a defensive and an offensive coordinator who are smarter than you, which won't be too hard. And that's the team you're going to run next year. And if you don't like it, then you need to retire and they have to.

Chris: He has to retire. Instagram comments in Schwab or get some comments in Steve's. Steve's just obviously he's very emotional today about this.

Marc: Well, Sissy is very involved tonight. Thank you, Sissy. She says name a quarterback. Well. Tom, I, as ever too many, too many people are making comments now. I lost this.

Chris: Name a quarterback Tomlin has ever coached to be top tier. It makes you question if he's incapable or Ben was the issue for years by not being a leader in that meeting room. Jay Wood says need an elite QB to win in the playoffs. I love this Brad Trombley on Facebook. I'm tired of Tomlin blowing smoke trading with Tomlin for picks. I'm sure Washington is ready to make that trade. Hey, listen, Brad, first of all, I, I applaud you for taking a shot at me. and my ties to the Washington franchise. He's right though. I know, in case you didn't realize.

Marc: He's right, you should trade him.

Steve: Maybe we can get Sam Howe.

Chris: Listen, this is the ridiculous thing guys, hear me out, hear me out. The owner's name is no longer Dan Snyder. I guarantee you if Dan Snyder was the owner, he would trade for Tomlin. Absolutely. And then he would destroy any legacy Tomlin has. The fact that they have new ownership, they are not going to trade for Tomlin. You know that already. Maybe they should. I get it, but they won't do it. But if Dan Snyder was around, he would trade for Tomlin and then he would just destroy that guy. So, um, I think that the Steelers franchise has been in trouble ever since Mike Tomlin became the head coach. Now I know I've been in his corner. Um, uh, you know, when you put it all together right now, I think what's, what has happened is he never had, and this is a comment that was made on Instagram. He never had. to draft the quarterback. He never had to develop the number one position on your team. He was blessed With a guy who had just won the super bowl, you know And it doesn't matter what you think about ben roethlisberger as as a person or a player with the media crime the fact is he was Absolutely. He was great at that time and tomlin walked into god bless him the best situation you could walk into as a head coach, no matter what. Now, he put together some good defenses over the years. He rode it out with Ben. They won a Super Bowl. They also lost the Super Bowl. But ever since that team started to slowly disappear, they have gone further and further down. And the final nail in the coffin for me was Ben retires. Now what? and you can see exactly what happened. The defense has moments, the offense is horrible, and he's also completely lost the locker room because he lets the players, you know, be themselves.

Marc: The inmates are running the asylum.

Chris: You got it, you got it, and it was only a matter of time. Now, was it a matter of time because he Um, the nfl's passing by and we got social media and all that other crap that we talk about all the time Yeah, it could be not his fault. I'm, not necessarily saying it's his fault Um, but you know, we got a lot of people chiming in on this Uh, I have a hard time spending money to come to my favorite city to see my favorite team unless they make changes But you know what brad but you will come to see the hockey jesus though. We know that You've proven it And the hockey jesus can't wait to see you again uh

Marc: Who wants to comment on Pickens and his lack of blocking enthusiasm? Oh, my God.

Chris: Well, I mean, that's under his feet. You got it. Go ahead, Steve.

Steve: Well, that's, that's what happens when, when you're not coaching these guys to go out there and give their all every play and, and, and have them ready to do that, then those things happen. I mean, we saw it with Deontay the other week, we saw it with Pickens this week. It's like, they're basically not being coached to say, go out there and run somebody over every play. Like look at San Francisco. How many times do you see Auk or Debo jostling with some cornerback? No matter what the play is, they don't care. They're out there to compete. And, you know, I remember the bullshit line that Tomlin gave us about Kenny Pickett. Oh, not only is he a great talent, but he's got a high compete level. Right. None. I don't think anybody on this team has a high compete level. You know what I'm saying? It's like they're not.

Chris: I mean, I know what that is, but uh Pickens is a b says sissy off vermont street on instagram. Go ahead, bud

Steve: I don't even know what you're saying. But the reality is the Steelers are not a well-coached team. But if you look back to some of the players that he drafted, I mean, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown were way better talents than what he had with Randall L and and and Hines Ward. I mean, they were much better at the game of football than those two guys. And Buss was at the end of his career. I mean, he had to go out and get a running back. and I think are you defending Tomlin right now because you have to listen till the end okay the problem is and this is where I'm getting to the problem is the way he coaches these guys is he lets them be who they want to be he let them be on social media He kowtowed to them by letting them fly helicopters or anything in the St. Vincent, however they wanted to show up at St. Vincent. And if they wanted to have their social media guy on the field with them, sure, why not? What's the big deal? The big deal is they don't focus on football. And by the way, this is not just a stealer problem. I'll tell you this and you know I have to get it in. Travis Kelsey is garbage now because he's dating Taylor Swift. The guy is totally not focused on football anymore. All he cares about is what he's going home to. And when that becomes the focus of your life and not the football game you play, Your career is over. And I think that's what Tomlin does not stress. You're coming to play football. I need you on the field 24-7. Not just when you're here, but when you go home, you're playing football. When you show up in the morning, when you shower, you're playing Steeler football. And that's the next coach. That's what the next coach has to be. He has to be a guy that makes these players Eat, sleep and drink Steelers football until we win another goddamn Super Bowl.

Chris: OK, so there's a lot.

Marc: Yeah, let me make it. Let me make a comment off of that. OK, I think I think that that's very true. And, you know, you know, obviously, you all know that I follow the Philadelphia Eagles. And the reason why this relates of some importance is because Andy Weidel, who was with the Eagles, is now doing, you know, a lot of the draft picking. And I always remember I saw this program on, you know, their philosophy of who they select. And their number one philosophy was the guy has to love the game of football. They have to eat, sleep and drink football. And I agree, like, you know, like, you know, if you think about Pickens, right? Hey, Pickens is a top tier talent. If Pickens puts it all together, he could be one of the best receivers in the league. But even coming out of the draft, there were a lot of red flags on Pickens. There were a lot of coaches that said, I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole because he's immature and he doesn't love football. Right. So, you know, it's stuff like that. You got it. And I think that sometimes what happens is Tomlin gets enamored with kind of the shiny object. And just like, you know, all these years, really, you know, it was the Antonio Browns and the Le'Veon Bells and spending less interest on the lines. Right. And so we finally got back to the lines a little bit this year. But yeah, I mean, really, I mean, Mike Tomlin. is obviously a decent coach. I mean, but unfortunately to me, I think what actually makes him a decent coach is that over the last several years, he's actually gotten a lot out of teams that weren't really that good, you know, and there is something to that being a good coach. But I also think He wasted, he wasted so much talent. I mean, with Ben Roethlisberger in his prime, with Antonio Brown in his prime, with Le'Veon Bell in his prime, he wasted so much talent.

Chris: I just think that I detect a note of maybe a little bit of jealousy on that Travis Kelsey, Taylor Swift thing coming from Steve who we all know.

Steve: Hey, I'm happily married. I don't need it. I don't need a thing on the side. Trust me.

Chris: I'm good.

Steve: I don't know why he had to do it, even if it was a $1 billion thing on the side. I think that's just too much.

Marc: Did you want to did you want to talk to us a little bit about the quarterback position?

Steve: quarterback position. So yeah, in my head, I was creating a list of quarterbacks that are better than the Steelers quarterbacks. And I'm not talking about the Mahomes, which by the way, you know, he's low on the list lately because my homes hasn't been great either. Um, but I'm talking about the Brownings like, dude, where did this guy come from? Joe Flacco essentially is the fourth He's the fourth string quarterback for Cleveland. He's better than clearly better than any of the Steelers that have ever put on a uniform this year, maybe even last year.

Chris: Right.

Steve: You know, and, you know, you got this Mullins guy. Who is he? He's a third. He's the third, third, the third string quarterback from the Vikings. He looks fine. Like he can he can play the game. Right.

Marc: Even DeVito.

Steve: And I know I know. Well, I mean, Minshew is kind of a proven commodity. He's been around a little bit.

Marc: Yeah.

Steve: But but I mean, like DeVito, like, yeah, he was three and one previous to this past week.

Marc: Yeah. And it's and it's seven touchdowns in those games. Yeah. Right.

Steve: So it's like, how can, how can these guys, and I get some of it is, is, is the system that you're in. Right. I get it. Like the recent Browning throws for 300 yards is because the Bengals offense is geared around the pass. Right. So, but he can still do it. I mean, the guy can do it. I'll even go a step further. Like everybody knows Brock Purdy now, but they didn't know Brock Purdy previous to last year. Like he's another guy that's like, How can he be out there and then get into a system and then turn into just somebody who looks like he can play like that effortlessly every frickin game. While when Trubisky gets the ball, it looks like one, he doesn't know how to throw up his back foot, two, doesn't know how to throw, and three, just looks scared as hell out there. It's just like, and he, he's the most expensive backup that of all the backups in the NFL, like the, where are the Steelers are spending their money right now? Just doesn't look like it makes sense. And you can even say that I know TJ Watt leads the league in sacks, but what is it really getting us having a guy like that? Same with the binka highest was the highest paid safety when they gave him the contract, clearly a pro bowl player, but what are these guys bringing in return? And then on top of that, I mean, you go get Allen Robinson for like $8 million and how many catches does he have on a season? 20? I mean, it's just, they need to, they need to, they need to get rid of that kind of garbage. I mean, I get the, I get the, I get to talk about George Pickens and Deontay Johnson. The reality is you have to have the number one and number two receiver on the team and you can't just get rid of those guys.

Chris: Right?

Steve: But the quarterback position, if you look in the aggregate, how much they spend on the position, they could, they could go out and get a better quarterback and just draft rookies to play backup. And they will probably be just as good in a new system. I'll, I'll just say that.

Chris: Yeah. Well, here's the thing. First of all, I got to stop you because it was just, you know, it was going really, really long. It's just like, I just think it was incredible that the amount, like finally it's, it all goes back to everything you were saying. It all goes back to Mike Tomlin and any staff that he had in that building for the first 15 years, never had to truly evaluate a quarterback. They were always evaluating for a backup. They were all, every quarterback they ever looked at his entire coaching, you know, head coaching stint was always like, could this guy backup Ben? That was it. He never, now when he taps to look for, hold on, let me finish. He went forever. Now, he's got to look for that replacement quarterback and because there's a standard that's been set pardon the pun on that for real about a hall of famer and playing quarterback for the last 17 years you know the bar is set really high and boy did they miss it they missed it on signing trubisky they missed it on drafting rudolph you know when they did draft him and Ben didn't help with that because Ben was pissed off and it's like look dude you got a couple years left they they completely missed it and they missed it with Kenny Pickett and and I'm you know I was the biggest Kenny Pickett cheerleader but you know they miss it with Kenny Pickett this all comes down to the fact that Mike Tomlin can't evaluate offensive players like the quarterback, not necessarily because, yes, Le'Veon Bell, you know, A.B. in his prime was a what, a fifth round draft pick or something. And six or six. Yeah. So, right. I mean, you get lucky, man. You get lucky once in a while. But look, it's time for him to go. It really is. I think he could be successful somewhere else. I really do.

Marc: I actually, I, the only, I think the only chance he has to be successful somewhere else is if he walks into another, um, elite quarterback, maybe like if he gets the San Diego job with Justin Herbert.

Chris: That's it. I love when a doctor agrees with you, you know you're on to something. Preach Klein, you are right on, as says The Doctor CD. Frank, Stealish Freak, sorry, says, Bad Scouting, Bad Coaching, Player Development, Bad Execution, The Stealer Trifecta. How about an Instagram comment or two, Schwab, if you can catch up with it? If you can, I can. Yeah, I can catch up. Brandon, B-R-N-D-N-O-N, I'm guessing that's Brandon, says, Evaluator develop. It should have started before Ben left. You're right. They failed the organization by not succession planning when a Steve's favorite shows So, yeah, and as far as the pickins and Deontay Johnson thing go I think they totally missed the ball there as well Yes, the guys obviously anybody you draft on an NFL team has NFL skills. I Okay. So we could sit here all day long and say, well, they both have talent. Look, they're both immature assholes who are only out for one thing and one thing only. And that is to make money. Congratulations. De Deontay, you did that. And, um, you know, get minds. That's it. They don't have, they don't have the Heinz word mentality and they never will, but there are some players that do. You look at guys like Debo, Samuel and, uh, CMC. Yeah. They're generation. Well, CMC generational players. But they got that team mentality, you know, because they know they're going to get paid. They've got it in reverse.

Marc: The one thing I will say, though, is there's nothing wrong with taking a chance on somebody who's got that talent. But you have to be able to coach to it and that and you have to have some level of accountability. Now, look, I'm not saying that this would solve all the problems. Right. But like, you know, What? Why not? You know, you don't you don't dress pickings in the next game. You know, make it real for him, you know. And then you know what? If he wants to complain and get me out of town, then fine. We'll trade you at the end of the year. But why not do something like that to let him know that this is not acceptable? Because all I can tell you is right now what's going on is they're watching the tape in the film room the day after. or two days after. And, you know, everybody's looking at it and they're just like, well, is anybody going to say anything? You know, and maybe something is said, but, but there's no consequence to it, you know?

Chris: Yeah, it seems that way. DG is back. Hey, DG. Tomlin is ultimately responsible for enabling all of these clowns who continually dog it on the field. Where's the veteran leadership? I've seen Cam Hayward, Who is yeah, old chase a runner 20 yards downfield while Pickens felt snubbed by the Pro Bowl, right? And Brandon on Instagram says the Tomlin doesn't have the locker room, which is clear in the fact that Pickens doesn't help or block downfield. They don't care about the team. They only care about themselves and their stats. Yes. Um, i've lived here 30 years and I was telling schwaber before the show before you showed up steve that in my 30 years of living here, this is the Biggest fire that it has ever been lit under the steelers organization um in my 30 years i'm sure I mean, I just remember cower coming in and You know, we went through kind of a swing with them. And then he finally, you know, he he was able to grab the holy grail. And then he kind of had a couple down years and then he retired into the sunset and Tomlin came on board. This is the most vitriol I have heard from the Steelers base in my 30 years of being here. You know, and got to say hi to Kyle. What's up, Kyle? What's up, Kyle? He wants to see you. Yeah, yeah. Seriously, Kyle, come on. Come on, I think I'm going out to dinner with Kyle on Wednesday night. I think me and the diva are going out to dinner with him.

Steve: So, uh, well, I think one thing that, you know, I, and I understand what you're saying about Tomlin, but let's face it. Cowher had been pretty much his whole career too. I mean, he had Neil O'Donnell there at the beginning and he had to kind of suffer.

Marc: And Tommy Maddox, I think he had like two years of Ben, didn't he? Or three. Three.

Steve: No, no. He had he had he had all the Super Bowl years with Ben. So all I'm saying is that. Oh, Tomlin, I thought you spent coward.

Marc: Coward. Yeah. Coward. Coward had his rookie season. The second year that they won the Super Bowl, the third year that they screwed up and then it was gone and went to Tomlin. No, no. I'm pretty sure.

Chris: OK, well, it doesn't matter. What you're trying to say is Tomlin had a problem too.

Steve: No, what I'm saying is that most NFL coaches have a problem with replacing Hall of Fame quarterbacks. What he should have done is he should have hired an offensive coordinator who he felt comfortable who could do it because clearly as a defensive guy, he has no idea how to bring on a young quarterback in today's NFL especially. Right. And I think that's where he messed up. Like, I would never expect, like, Coach Tomlin as a defensive coordinator, a guy in a league for 17 years to be able to bring on a rookie quarterback into the NFL by himself. But I did expect him and the Roonies to say you need to go get an offensive coordinator who will grow with Kenny Pickett. If that means it's if that means it's past when you will be here, Coach T, then so be it, because the franchise is more important than you are as the head coach. And that's, I think, where the failure is in this whole thing. I mean, I think it's easy to it's easy to, you know, look, we blame Canada for everything. Right. The offense got worse without Canada, by the way. The scoring got worse. The total yards got worse except for that one game. But since then, it's been garbage. So I think to make scapegoats out of people and coaches like that is a bad idea because you're just going to keep pointing the finger at the next man up. And that's not what you need to do. You need to look at the organization as a whole and say, you make these changes, you get an offensive coordinator, you get a defensive coordinator that are worth a damn or you're out. It's really that simple. I think it's that simple. And the only people who can do that are the Roonies. And if the Roonies don't have that conversation with it, then, you know, maybe guys like Brad are right. Maybe guys should you shouldn't travel to Pittsburgh to come see a crappy team that's only going to score seven points while the other team and while they complain about the referee refereeing or whatever it is they do.

Marc: By the way, I was correct. Cowher had three years of Ben. There you go. Ben drafted in 2004. Cowher coached till 2006.

Chris: There you go, Steve.

Steve: Oh, OK, I want to give a shout out really Super Bowl years and one undefeated year for Ben.

Chris: OK, here's DG DG. Big friend of the show. Cower was there when Tommy Maddox went down and then with a dumbed down offense, Ben won a ton as a rookie until Brady came in and killed us. Yeah, I I actually did. Listen, I gotta give a shout out here. I just I just want to say first of all that before our Philadelphia show, you guys who watch the Pittsburgh show all the time, you know we do. We do a show in philly too because schwaber down there is the grand schwa beanie He lives in pittsburgh, but he's from philly and he's a big-time philly fan, but he's also a pittsburgh fan But anyway, we do that for him. So he sent me three pages of notes before the philly show three pages of notes Yep, and all I can think about all I could think about the whole time is these guys they finally get it This is the kind of preparation I'm talking about. This is what I'm talking about. Here's my notes for today.

Marc: There you go. Go ahead. And you seemed very prepared at the start of this show.

Chris: But it's all about it's all about the notes like now do you want to read my notes? These are my notes for alexis raspberry lemon ale sly fox.

Marc: There you go That does sound very tasty Um, you should try a mark.

Chris: Yeah dg is i'm not going to put this comment out But dg is saying three pages of notes on how to get the intro music to play. Yes David But see that what i'm saying is now you guys know like I go through a lot We know you you're an engineer you take notes hockey jesus. We know that's Over the top you're starting to really believe your own hype All right in some steelers bad

Marc: That's right.

Steve: What are the Steelers going to do? Are they going to break Cincinnati's hearts this weekend?

Chris: Absolutely not. We didn't even talk about Mason Rudolph. We didn't even talk about Mason Rudolph.

Steve: Oh, Mason Rudolph is starting this week and there will be no difference in the offense there.

Chris: It's going to be God awful. OK, we got to move on. We got to move on. Our NFL picks are coming up now.

Steve: All right, Ken, let's go. Let's go.

Chris: Steve was in there last week. Mark was Mark was 4 and 0. 30 and 13. He was 2-2 and I was 1-3. I'm just trying to keep my head above 500.

Marc: 17 and 260. And 260. So we want to know what your pick is because we're going to give you our picks right now. Thursday night. Yes, Kyle.

Chris: Mason Rudolph is the name of Santa's reindeer. Yeah, maybe you ought to take a sip of that beer there I was gonna ask a question about beer and man buns. I think the diva's home by the way Yeah, I see sassy going crazy Thursday night Saints at Rams.

Marc: I will take the horned animal I Think it's going to be the Rams I

Chris: Okay saints at rams steve and mark i'm going with the saints because first of all why not and uh Second I actually believe the rams are just teasing everybody right now. Okay next Uh, maybe we got some picks coming in here. Um Mcswirley is on deck. Yeah. No, just if you got a pick give us your picks. All right next sunday night patriots at broncos I will take the unicorn A Bronco Broncos.

Steve: All right. How did you get unicorn out of Bronco? It's a horse. I like I like I like Denver at home. There are much better team at home.

Chris: OK, so Steve and Mark are taking the Broncos. So you know what I'm doing?

Steve: Oh, baby.

Chris: All right. Sunday's game. Dolphins, Cowboys, Cowboys at the Dolphins.

Marc: I will take the fish. I really kill his back. The cheetah.

Chris: Yeah.

Steve: Steve. Cowboys, they need to win.

Marc: He's going girls again.

Chris: Steve always takes the Cowboys. I'm going to go with Mark on the Dolphins because at least I keep pace and I actually think the Dolphins are going to win that game. And I hate the cowboys and everybody knows that all right We got five comments here that I want to get to here and it looks like most of them are kyle Uh, well kyle is taking the saints, uh the pats, duh, um tom brady doesn't play anymore cd's taking the broncos Kyle's taking, looks like the dolphins.

Marc: He's taking a summer.

Steve: He's taking a palm tree, it looks like.

Marc: At home. He's taking Hawaii.

Chris: Palm tree and a wave. And a good half pipe.

Steve: And some tasty buds I think that's a movie name.

Chris: That wasn't that wasn't that wasn't any good Um, I have been watching a lot of vacation movies lately. Okay, let's uh, let's talk about something that is near and dear to our heart right now Um, this is the hockey jesus who is up there.

Steve: We're only picking two games

Chris: No, we picked cowboys dolphins patriots at broncos and saints at rams.

Steve: Oh, I got confused because we picked four last week. My bad.

Chris: That's the effect of the Alex's summer raspberry.

Steve: I know I'm out. I'm empty. I need, I need another one.

Chris: All right. Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast after every single penguins game. We're going to have one tonight, right?

Steve: Um, you're going to get one in about 45 minutes.

Marc: Yeah. So what is the live update? What's the live?

Steve: Well, yeah, for those of you who are not watching the game, close your ears because I'm about to do a spoiler alert. The Penguins are currently winning three nothing against Minnesota and and they have a power play goal.

Marc: Oh, there you go. Oh, let me guess. You could coach Carlson.

Steve: Although Genso was in front, it looked like he might have tipped it, but they didn't give him the goal. It looked like it went off some guy's skate instead. Yeah, so penguins are in trouble, actually. Let's just jump right into it. They basically have lost five of their last seven. They did win two in a row, Arizona and at Montreal. The Montreal win was fun because, you know, went to 12 rounds. I've never seen a 12 round shootout before. So that was kind of fun. And actually, after about the sixth, after about the sixth player, you really start to worry that nobody's ever going to score. Because the goalie started.

Marc: He was the guy who scored. He's not a very well-known player.

Steve: Right. In fact, they they sent him down to the minors today. Oh, did they? OK. Harkins. Yeah. But yeah. So in fact, when he when he went when he went to go in, I was like, there's no way he's scoring. And then he scored and it was over. So what what's wrong with the Penguins right now? I think honestly, a lot of their problems stem from the power play. I know that I beat this home way too much. The other thing that I think that and it seems like they're fixing it with the power play goal. That'll be three power play goals. Honestly, a lot of their problems.

Chris: What was sorry about that, guys?

Steve: Oh technical director.

Chris: There you go.

Steve: I mean, I love hearing myself in my in my own ears, but even when there's nothing wrong He finds a way to make something wrong.

Chris: There's nothing wrong Make it wrong. Yeah Now our ig our ig froze so I checked on the phone and I didn't realize the phone was hooked into the bluetooth. So Well, just another yeah, just another manic monday.

Steve: All right, just another manic monday I love that song. I do love I do love you By the way, what do you think the bangles?

Marc: I don't have to run day. You think it was that song?

Steve: I I think most groups hate the songs that they sing after really After a little hoss who did who wasn't in love with susanna haas when they were growing up. We all were we all were come on Let's face it.

Chris: Yeah. Okay, you're talking about being in love with somebody not do they like the music they play go ahead. Keep going

Steve: I guess that's another conversation for another day. So the other thing that the Penguins have to figure out is they have to figure out how to win a game without scoring four goals. They've only won three games when they score three goals or less all season. And that's just not sustainable for getting points. And that's the bottom line with this team. So they've got to find a way to win the 2-1 games, the 3-2 games. Um, I know, you know, they get to shut out games and those are great and they haven't had one in a while, but the goaltending has been good. They actually have the second, I think it's the tide for third, uh, lowest goals against, uh, in the Eastern conference. So I don't think that defense is necessarily their problem. They're saying that the penguins can't play defense. It's not that it's just that they just go through this. They go through the zone where they just can't score goals. And I don't know why, but they need to be more consistent. It probably has more to do with the third line scoring, the third and fourth line scoring, the secondary scoring, as we like to say on the Hockey Jesus podcast. I think once they get that figured out, and by the way, Raquel is playing tonight. He's playing up on the top line. And Houston, who should be playing up on the top line, is playing on the second line. He's already looked great tonight. I'm kind of cursory watching it as we're doing the show. And that allows the third line to get back together. And the third line, once again, Drew O'Connor, Lars Eller, and whoever else they want to put on the other side. I think the Penguins actually, I know everybody's saying they're not a playoff team. They're not going to make the playoffs now. Look, they need to get four points to get into the bunch, which everybody's in from the Flyers, the whole way down to the Devils. They're separated by like four points, and there are like four teams in their Carolina, the Devils, the Flyers, and I'm missing a team in there. It's not the Islanders, but there's another team, Caroline. did I say Carolina? Anyway, so if they can get into that bunch, then basically two of those teams are going to make it and two of those teams are not going to make it. And that's where the Penguins need to get to. But in order to do that, they probably need to win like two in a row, maybe three in a row, and they've got their next four or their six at home. This is where I think they need to make it up before the end of the year. Doesn't quite get them to the midway point, they'll only be at game 35 by the end of the year, but you're getting pretty close. So you want to be in that lump of teams that I was talking about by the time that midway point comes, and that'll be in early January. Questions?

Chris: I feel like I just realized that the professor asked me if I had any questions while my eyes were closed. Jeff, my buddy from York, has a great York County question. Only people from York would think about it this way. Who would win between the Steelers and the Penguins?

Steve: Well, let's see. The Steelers. Yeah, the Penguins would win. Yeah. Yeah, they could just take off their skate and hit him hit him in the jugular.

Marc: Uh, it would be over Yeah That's I like I like Sidney Crosby, uh at running back Um, and I think that I think Sid would be a quarterback. He would he there's no way he would be a running back I like I like jari at kicker Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and he gets to wear his pads, too

Marc: Alright fellas, it's game time for the Grand Swell Beanie. I will leave the two of you to finish the show.

Chris: Okay. We will sink the ship. We will sink the ship. Go birds.

Marc: Sink the ship.